Vol. 2 - Chapter 17 - Reviewing the Questions
During the drinking party that day---it was disguised as just a celebration---I grilled Sylphy over why she was at the exam, but she stubbornly kept silent and I could only get out that it was because someone had asked her. Well, whatever. It was probably someone like Sieg or the emperor.
Putting aside the fact that I had done as I pleased, Satella and Aria\'s passing was almost set in stone. Aria had wanted to meet her father, the head of the academy, but he was unfortunately out in the capital on a business trip that day.
I was doubtful of its veracity, but even so, did he really have to go when his daughter was taking the entrance exam? No, he was probably running away.
He most likely didn\'t know how to face his daughter after having abandoned her for so many years. What a kid.
Thanks to him, Aria was now down in the dumps. For a second I thought about just bringing out that letter, but haste makes waste. I should hold back for now.
A week after they announced the results, we headed towards my near territory in the north, formerly known as the David Territory.
Along the way, I began looking deeper into several questions.
First, what Sagami Co. should be doing as a business.
We were neither soldiers, craftsmen, nor farmers, we were merchants. And because merchants measured their worth by how much money they made, I started my own business. It\'s about time that we went all-out.
More specifically, we\'d need to build a up a network and start developing new goods.
However, the cancerous tumor that was the court nobles stood in the way of developing new goods. I couldn\'t just spit out new technologies left and right. Still, I had my own territory and could effectively develop new technologies unhindered there and see about trying to bring those inventions outside.
Although, if those in my territory were violently opposed to my rule, I\'d have to scrap this idea......In any case, I won\'t know until I try.
As for the network, I established two firms in Sutherland\'s capital, Lemuria, as several restaurants after The Silver Knife.
An important problem still remained, however: the shortage of workers.
I had looked for employees many times over these past few years, but the son of some court noble or underground guild always managed to sneak in, causing conflict by violating their contract and leaking the technologies. The Commerce Guild has been lending a hand with that up until now, but there\'s no telling what will happen if I keep recruiting using the same exact methods. Are there really not any free hands that aren\'t affiliated with either a court noble or an underground guild? In any case, I\'ll be putting this matter to the side.
During all this, the Scarlet Phoenix have finally been hired as official employees to Sagami Co, and they\'ve mainly been working as our bodyguards since.
But now that I\'m independent, there\'s not much meaning to keeping my head down. Growing growing the company is now a top priority, which means the Scarlet Phoenix members aren\'t even close to enough employees. I should probably look into finding more battle-oriented employees from now on.
Second was managing the new territory formerly known as the David Territory.
As a land in the northernmost region, it\'s inhabited by mountain people known as Radols. It was also the first land to be ravaged during the undead incident.
Viscount David, the current lord at the time, drove out the Radols from their capital, Camelot, for his own vassals and subjects to live.
The Radols revolted several times on the grounds of taking back their holy land of Camelot, but David forced them down every time and eventually began thoroughly subjugating them.
He executed every last person related to the ringleaders who began the rebellions and not only confiscated anything that could be regarded as a weapon from the Radols, but also set up a system that observed reported the Radols which led to an endless cycle of punishments. Over the years, he completely chipped away any power they had remaining.
Ironically, however, they met their ends during the undead incident. The undead who appeared out of The Rudoa Giant forest and advanced onto the stronghold city of Camelot. Giant monsters, dragons, and other large undead broached the castle walls and turned the vassals of citizens of Viscount David into undead before marching onto the capital.
On the other hand, the Radols were living in villages around the border of the Holy Kingdom of Amrzs at the base of the Rudoa mountain range. They managed to escape the undead assault and narrowly escaped death.
Viscount David managed to avoid the worst case scenario of having every last citizen wiped off the map, but it was clear as day that the Radols would take no more. Now, having succeeded the position as the lord, I might as well been their sworn enemy. Even a child could figure out it would be a herculean task to gain their trust back.
Damn that eccentric emperor! Stop throwing the most annoying tasks onto me!
............Ah damn. I keep getting worked up when it comes to that eccentric emperor. I need to calm down.
I\'ve already formed a contract, so even if that eccentric emperor were to get ousted, I wouldn\'t lose my position as the lord of this land. Just you wait, court nobles, I\'ll show you how much I can grow this land.
The third question was about living in the capital. Regardless of whether I got into the Imperial Magic Knight Academy, I would be operating out of the capital city, Lemuria, and Sutherland.
My goal in the capital was to expand my business, find talented personnel, and increase my own strength as well as the strength of my allies. Bullying Laguna was on the list too.
In regard to the talented personnel, I\'d not only need to pick out the ones who would shoulder the country in the future, but also lead them to naturally reform the empire.
Just the other day I had met some promising kids: Ronald, Alan, and the blonde-haired girl. They were diamonds in the rough. Without any polishing, a diamond was just an ordinary jewel, and if you polished it incorrectly, it would become unusable. In short, I needed to give them the ability to think on their own and protect their innocence despite this empire\'s shitty customs. With proper education, they could mark their names in history on their own.
However, if suitable teachers actually existed, then this empire wouldn\'t have fallen so low. Ugh, so in the end it boils down to lacking talented personnel.
In any case, there\'s still time; I don\'t have to make my decision right this instant.
Next on the list was increasing our strength, but as that red-haired monster is out to get me, this is my highest priority. I think it\'ll work out if we train ourselves in the largest ruins in the city, "The Grand Labyrinth."
Obviously "The Grand Labyrinth" is under the Adventurer\'s Guild\'s jurisdiction, so I\'ll need to register as an adventurer. I\'ll do it when I find the time.
Last, but not least, is bullying Laguna. Fortunately, they seem to be connected with the court nobles, so I\'ll stomp them out, completely and thoroughly. I\'ll be rooting out the corruption within the empire at the same time, so it\'s like I\'m killing two birds with one stone. Anyways, I\'ll exterminate every last one of them.